On Wednesday, the Swedish national team presented the skiers who would run the skiathlon at the ski WC in Planica – but chose to leave the fourth and last place open on the women’s side.
Coach Stefan Thomson explained that he and the rest of the leadership staff wanted to wait for the ladies’ sprint before deciding who would join long-distance specialists Frida Karlsson, Ebba Andersson and Moa Ilar in the Swedish line-up.
After the successful start at the WC where Jonna Sundling won gold, Emma Ribom silver, Maja Dahlqvist bronze and Linn Svahn finished fourth – it is now clear that the choice fell on Svahn.
– She has shown in the past that she is a strong mass start skier but has come to the conclusion that this is her debut in skiathlon at senior level, Thomson said.
– We had to figure things out a bit, but Linn is in good shape and I think the distance race she did in Les Rousses added flavor.
The effect of this will be that the team in Sunday’s sprint relay will in all probability consist of Jonna Sundling, but that both Ribom and Dahlqvist are still in the game to join her.
Stefan Thomson did not want to reveal anything about who is best suited to be selected. He said, however, that all the ladies showed interest in running the skiathlon, but that the coaching staff took into account the team sprint ahead.
– But it could be that the skiathlon is also a warm-up (for Linn Svahn), he then joked.
The women’s skiathlon, where Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson are among the main gold favorites, starts at 2pm on Saturday in Planica.
Sunday’s sprint relay begins with qualifying at 11.30 before the finals are decided at 1.30. The times apply to both women and men and the teams will be presented on the Saturday after the women’s skiathlon.
The text is updated.
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